NOTE: This site distinguishes the difference between "organizational development"
and "Organization Development." The former phrase refers to the nature
and scope of change in organizations, i.e., the change is to the entire organization
or to a significant portion of the organization. The latter phrase refers to
a field of well-trained people with expertise in guiding successful organizational
development. (For training about consulting to organizations, see the Consultants
Development Institute.)

Additional Resources

Also See the Library’s Blogs Related to Organization

In addition to the articles on this current page, see the following blogs which
have posts related to Organization Development. Scan down the blog's page to
see various posts. Also see the section “Recent Blog Posts” in the sidebar of
the blog or click on “next” near the bottom of a post in the blog.

About the Field of Organization Development

The field of Organization Development (OD) is focused on improving the effectiveness
of organizations and the people in those organizations. The nature of organizational
change is very much at the core of working in the field of OD. Organizational
change and Organization Development are often referenced together. Therefore,
the reader might be served by reviewing information in the topic, which includes
description of the field, various educational programs in OD, and books to read
about OD.

Understanding Yourself as an Instrument of Change

Your nature and the way you choose to work has significant
impact on your client's organization. You cannot separate yourself
from your client's organization, as if you are some kind of detached
observer. You become part of your client's system. Thus, it is
critical that you have a good understanding of yourself, including
your biases (we all have them), how you manage feedback and conflict,
how you like to make decisions and solve problems, how you naturally
view organizations, your skills as a consultant, etc. The following
document explains each of these considerations in more detail
and ends with a quick self-assessment.Understanding
Yourself as Instrument of Change

Understanding Community Organizing

We OD practitioners sometimes forget that OD has its roots
in community development (through works of Benne, Lewin, etc.).
Community organizers are often deep in the "trenches"
working challenges such as organizational design, organizational
transformation, leadership development, conflict management, etc.Community
Organizing

Understanding Consulting

Stages of Organization Development Process

The typical OD process and the consulting process often follow
an action research approach. Consequently, there is often an overlap
between materials that are useful to both processes. Also, there
are many variations of the process, including by combining various
phases and/or splitting some into more phases.

During this phase, you might repeat some of the assessments
that you did earlier in the discovery phase.

Major Types of Interventions

The field of Organization Development uses a variety of processes,
approaches, methods, techniques, applications, etc., (these are
often termed "interventions") to address organizational
issues and goals in order to increase performance. The following
partial list of interventions is organized generally in the order
presented by Cummings and Worley in their "Organization Development
and Change" (West Publishing, 1993).

Other Online Libraries

There are a large number of online libraries with materials
in regard to the many aspects of organization development. The
following links are to libraries with many materials and are a
good start for finding more materials, as well.

Organizations Focused on OD

National

(Thanks to the National
OD Network for organizing and posting a great deal of online
information about national OD-related information.)

Recommended Books

Managing Organizational Change

by Carter McNamara, published by Authenticity Consulting, LLC.
Provides complete, step-by-step guidelines to identify complex issues in for-profit or government organizations and successfully
resolve each of them. This book is also helpful to organizations that are doing fine now, but want to evolve to
the next level of performance. This is one of the truly comprehensive, yet practical, books about this complex subject!
Includes online forms that can be downloaded. Many materials in this Library's topic about guiding
change are adapted from this comprehensive book.

by Carter McNamara, published by Authenticity Consulting, LLC.
Provides complete, step-by-step guidelines to identify complex issues in nonprofit organizations and successfully
resolve each of them. This book is also helpful to organizations that are doing fine now, but want to evolve to
the next level of performance. This is one of the truly comprehensive, yet practical, books about this complex subject!
Includes online forms that can be downloaded. Many materials in this Library's topic about guiding
change are adapted from this comprehensive book.

The following books are recommended because of their highly practical nature and often
because they include a wide range of information about this Library topic. To get more information about
each book, just click on the image of the book. Also, a "bubble" of information might be displayed. You can click
on the title of the book in that bubble to get more information, too.

Growing Your Organization

The following books are recommended because of their highly practical nature and often
because they include a wide range of information about this Library topic. To get more information about
each book, just click on the image of the book. Also, a "bubble" of information might be displayed. You can click
on the title of the book in that bubble to get more information, too.